How The Times Change
by HumanRiot
Summary: Although it's for the right reasons, Zelda can't help worrying about the boy she sent out into the world. Seven years later, her life has changed dramatically, and so has his. But she can't help the way she feels...


**_Hello everyone! I'm HumanRiot, otherwise known as Naomi, and this is my first fanfic submission ever! So please, read and review, I want to know whether I'm worthy to set a virtual foot in the publishing community of . Constructive criticism is fine, I would love to know how to get better, but please, guys, don't burn this thing at the stake because of any ultimate heresy I may have committed against The Legend Of Zelda. Break it to me gently XD._**

**_I do not own Zelda, even though I am very protective of Sheik...which reminds me, if I do publish any more stuff, Sheik's gender will vary depending on the situation. In this story, I'm just sticking to the Ocarina Of Time plotline._**

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How The Times Change...

Young Zelda

The problem with queen-sized beds, Zelda thought as she slid under the silky covers, was that twelve-year-old princesses were definitely not big enough to fit for them. And - she shuddered a little and curled her body into and arc - they didn't seem to warm up very quickly. Calling up a small amount of her magic, she created a faintly illuminated globe of heat, which she allowed to dissolve into the mattress, and savoured the warmth as it spread through the bedding.

But something was still missing.

The wearied princess sighed and rolled over onto her back, closing her eyes as she did so. Somewhere in Hyrule, a young boy her age would be sleeping under a tree or in a cave; or if he was even less lucky, he would be running (_more like fighting_,Zelda thought, knowing Link) for his life.

And technically, that was her fault.

It was for the right reasons. She needed the Spiritual Stones to keep the Triforce safe from Ganondorf. And she knew that he was really the only one who could - and would - do it.

But it didn't stop her feeling guilty. Or worried.

_Please, Link_, she thought, _be safe._

Then the young sovereign-to-be drifted off to sleep, reaching out and dreaming of a young peasant boy clad in green, with a fairy by his side, and his lightning-blue eyes.

Sheik

Landing softly on the balls of his feet, Sheik turned to see the defeated Wolfos howl in despair and crumble into blur flame, leaving the five-inch nails he had used to pierce it's heart and the weak spot on it's tail to fall to the turf soundlessly. Sheathing his rapier-thin daggers and retrieving the nails, he leapt onto the wall of the maze of the Sacred Forest Meadow.  
_Now, if I remember rightly...aha_. Sheik spotted the isolated opening in the centre of the maze. Springing over to it noiselessly as to not attract the attention of the monsters below, he dropped down into the deep hole in the centre of the clearing.

Sheik regained his sight as he was gently placed on his feet at the entrance of the small fairy's fountain. Sighing with relief, he walked into the pool, letting the swathe of glowing pink fairies heal the wounds of the past few weeks. He knelt in the centre and rinsed away the blood and dirt from his hands; then, momentarily lowering his cowl that covered most of his visage, rinsed his face. He heard the nearby fairies giggle in their quiet, bubbling way - they already knew of Sheik's real identity. Zelda had sworn them to silence, and at least the fountain's fairies could be trusted not to spill secrets. That was part of the reason why the fountains were like small havens from the outside chaos. The only people who even knew of this particular fountain, as she knew it, were Saria, the Sage of Forest, a few of the Kokiri, and the Hero of Time himself.

_Ah, the Hero_. Zelda gazed for a moment at the reflection of her alter ego. He hated being called that, she had seen it as soon as he had returned from his stay in the Sacred Realm. How shocked she had been when he had come back: it was as if she hadn't really expected him to grow up, to remain a fairy boy forever. She'd had to wait a few moments before making her presence known.  
She had seen him four times now : that first meeting; once in the Sacred Forest Meadow; his return to the Temple of Time to learn the Prelude of Light; and most recently, the encounter in Death Mountain Crater.  
Four meetings, three songs - she revelled in those times when they played together, as her lyre and his ocarina - the Ocarina of Time, the ocarina she had given to him on that fateful day - intertwined their melodies into one in the enchantment of the music.  
Link always seemed happy to see her (or Sheik, as he knew her now). Maybe it was that a recurring familiar face was welcome after the shock of the changes of seven years and the cruel tricks that the time travel had played on him. At their last meeting, when she was becoming too hot to be coherent and was coming to the verge of unconciousness, she had stepped back to throw down a deku nut and make her escape, i he had run to her./i She'd had to get away fast - partly due to the dizzy heat, partly from fear of what might happen if she stayed.  
Sheik/Zelda sighed, and returned to the warm white marble surrounding the pool. After quickly drying herself with a spell, she then closed her eyes and summoned the blankets she kept locked up in her mind using a memory storage spell, wrapping the soft wool around herself. She soon drifted off to sleep with the sound of music in her pointed ears in the soft glow of the fountain lights.

-FIN-

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**_So guys, what did you think? Please R&R_**


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